•\0:cJ,V.j'«  itau^i;./ •<<.•.  I  f.    -^  ►'■       .    •.-•'■5'.    '        ,■■■       ,    ;,      , 


AND   POE 


Delivered  at  the  UnVeiling   of  the  Monument 

Erected  to  the  Memory  of  the  Confederate 

Dead  of  Warren  County,  N.  C, 

August  27th,  1903 


Oonfeilenite  MoiniiiU'iil  erfctfd  by  tlie  La(lif>'  Memoiinl  Aisjufialion  of  Wiiireii  County.  X.  C. 

unci  imveik'd  Au.mi^l  'l'.  V.m.     (This  out  i>  kindly  tiiiiu>hed  by 

Cooper  Hros.,  Raleigh.  N.  c  i 


ADDRESS 


AND 


POEM 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  MONUMENT  ERECTED 

TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  DEAD  OF 

WARREN  COUNTY,  N.  C,  AUGUST  27,  1903 


KALEIGH,  N.  C.  : 

EDWAKDS  AND  BROUGHTON  PRINTING  COMPANY. 

1906. 


OFFiCERS 

iMks.  Ltt.  V   E.   PoLr<, 
Prciiileni    W'urroi   fomif!/    ]f(iii<jri(il  A'isnrintioii. 

Mks.  V.  L.  Pexdletox. 

Vici--Pn'.=ti<l()it. 

Mrs.   Mattie    1.   Wili  ox, 
Secretin y  and  Tniitnircr. 


ADDRESS 


Hon.  WALTER  A.  MONTGOMERY 


Mrs.   President,   Ladies   of   ike   Memorial  Association^   Old 
Soldiers,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

This  vast  assemblage  attc^3ts  the  deep  emotion  which  has 
been  excited  bv  the  occasion. 

This  great  throng,  with  countenances  radiant  with  sym- 
pathy and  uplifted  reverently,  but  proudly,  in  this  open 
temple  of  the  skies,  proclaim  that  the  purpose  of  our  meeting 
has  affected  our  hearts  most  ])rofoundly.  We  could  not,  if 
we  would,  subdue  the  feelings  which  sway  us  today.  Our 
thoughts  and  our  affections  are  vsdth  the  spirits  of  our  kins- 
men and  our  friends  who  gave  their  lives  for  us  in  a  cause 
that  failed. 

With  a  few  exceptions  we  know  not  where  on  Glory's  his- 
toric gTOund  their  bodies  lie;  but  this  we  know,  that  the 
crushed  hearts  of  many  who  are  now  living  lie  buried  with 
them.  There  are  wives,  mothers,  daughters,  sisters  and  other 
souls  faithful  and  tender  who  would  rejoice  to  sleep  at  last, 
dust  to  dust,  in  those  unmarked  and  unknown  graves  with  the 
objects  of  their  affections ;  for,  "Where  the  heart  has  laid 
do^vn  what  it  loved  most,  it  is  desirous  of  laying  itself  down." 
If  in  our  power,  we  would  gather  the  sacred  ashes  of  each  of 
these  cherished  ones  from  his  shallow  grave,  and  deposit  them 
with  loving  hands  around  this  stone.  The  native  visitor 
would  then,  at  this  spot,  as  he  looked  upon  this  marble, 
typical  of  the  form  and  characteristics  of  the  dead  whose 
virtues  it  is  erected  to  commemorate,  experience  an  increased 
sensation  of  reverence,  for  he  would  be  standing  among  the 


sepulchres  of  soldiers  who  v/cre  patriots,  and  who  gave  their 
lives  for  their  country,  for  their  love  of  the  same,  and  who 
were  "bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh.'" 

The  Association,  whose  spokesman  I  am,  was  organized 
to  build,  on  some  suitable  ground,  an  appropriate  monument 
in  memory  of  the  Confederate  dead  of  Warren.  This  spot 
already  the  last  resting  ])lace  of  departed  friends,  and  over- 
looking the  historic  old  town,  was  most  aptly  selected  for 
its  site.     The  foundation  was  laid  two  years  ago. 

It  has  been  completed,  and  this  day  is  unveiled  amidst  a 
cloud  of  witnesses.  Behold  it  in  its  symmetry  and  beauty, 
emblematic  both  of  the  virtu.es  and  tlie  deeds  it  is  intended 
to  commemorate,  and  of  the  gratitude  of  those  who  have 
erected  it. 

Let  us  hope  that  it  will  for  ages  withstand  the  ravages  of 
time,  a  reminder  to  coming  generations  of  honored  worth 
and  noble  ancestry.  We  are  not  unmindful,  however,  of  the 
fact  that  the  tallest  and  broadest  moimments  of  stone  or  brass 
are  but  partial  and  limited  mem.orials  of  great  achievements, 
and  likely  to  perish  long  before  the  deeds  they  bear  witness 
to  groAv  dim  in  tlie  pages  of  recorded  history,  or  in  the  hearts 
of  mankind.  We  know  that  should  shafts  with  foundations 
as  broad  as  the  pyramids  and  so  tall  as  to  reach  and  pierce 
the  skies  be  r:used  on  each  of  the  battlefields  made  famous 
bv  the  valor  of  the  Confederate  troops,  they  would  but  poorly 
commemorate  the  imperishable  feats  of  those  soldiers,  and 
affect  those  whose  eyes  might  fall  upon  them,  xlnd  we  know, 
too,  that  the  most  enduring  memorials  of  great  events  are  not 
in  written  history,  for  its  pages  are  often  times  falsified,  but 
are  those  which  are  engraven  on  the  hearts  of  mankind.  But 
we  intend  by  this  structure  to  make  an  outward  manifesta- 
tion of  our  appreciation  of  the  patient  endurance  of  suffering, 
the  high  courage  and  the  noble  self-denial  of  our  heroic  dead ; 
and  by  offering  this  physical  tribute  of  our  gi-ateful  love  to 
the  gaze  of  the  beholder  to  produce  on  his  mind  the  desire 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hil 


http://www.archive.org/details/addresspoemdelivOOmont 


to  cherish  a  high  standard  of  life  and  to  encourage  a  dispo- 
sition to  imitate  the  principles  which  controlled  the  conduct 
of  our  dead. 

It  will  not  be  thought,  for  a  moment,  that  our  purpose  is 
the  formation  or  encouragement  of  sectional  hostility,  or  the 
disparagement  of  those  who  opposed  us  in  our  mighty  strug- 
gle for  State  Supremacy.  It  is  infinitely  loftier  and  nobler. 
It  is  of  our  spirit  "to  speak  no  slander,  no,  nor  listen  to  it." 

We  have  not  met  to  stir  afresh  the  passions  of  the  Civil 
War,  nor  to  lament  the  results  of  that  strife.  From  the 
decision  of  the  God  of  Battles  we  filed  no  appeal.  There  is 
now  no  promoter  of  Southern  Independence.  iSTo,  my  former 
Comrades  and  Friends !  We  have  gathered  to-day  for  an- 
other purpose  than  to  quarrel  with  the  Past,  to  indulge  use- 
less repinings,  or  to  sow  seeds  of  discord.  True  followers  of 
Robert  E.  Lee  and  the  Starry  Cross  are  incapable  of  treachery 
or  malice,  and  since  the  day  when  that  banner  was  furled, 
though  the  times  have  been  troublous,  trying  men's  very  souls, 
they  have  proven  in  their  lives  the  truth  of  their  leader's 
immortal  words,  ^'Human  fortitude  should  be  equal  to  human 
adversity."  The  men  who  drove  the  army  of  the  Potomac 
from  its  entrenchments  around  Richmond,  stormed  the  heights 
of  Gettysburg  and  who,  when  reduced  to  a  mere  handful, 
stood  like  a  stone  wall  at  Spottsylvania,  will  never  abuse  a 
trust.  If  in  the  years  long  ago,  when  Appomattox  and  the 
memories  it  excited  were  fresh  in  our  minds,  we  thought  with 
sadness  of  "the  might  have  been,"  the  feelings  such  recol- 
lections now  awaken  "resemble  sorrow  only  as  mist  resem- 
bles the  rain."  Experience,  philosophy,  religion,  all  have 
taught  us  that  one  adequate  support  for  the  calamities  o£ 
mortal  life  exists — only  one — an  assured  belief  that  the  pro- 
cession of  our  fate,  however  sad  or  disturbed,  is  ordered  by 
a  Being  of  infinite  benevolence  and  power. 

Conscious  of  the  great  worth  of  our  ancestors,  proud  of  the 
history  of  our  grand  old  county,  and  with  a  due  concern  for 


tlio^e  who  are  to  come  after  us,  we  are  assembled  with  loving 
and  loval  hearts,  to  perform  the  duties  of  the  occasion. 

We  are  here  to  record,  in  the  nn veiling  and  presenting 
of  this  monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  the  Confederate 
dead  of  Warren  Cou.nty,  our  admiration  of  the  splendid 
courage  and  manly  ^  irtues  of  those  citizen  soldiers;  our  ex- 
alted regard  for  their  unselfish  devotion  to  duty,  our  sympathy 
in  their  trials ;  our  gratitude  for  the  sacrifices  they  made  for 
us,  in  the  belief  that  notwithstanding  defeat  overtook  the  cause 
for  which  they  battled,  they  did  not  die  in  vain.  But  the 
occasion  does  not  require  of  us  the  exclusive  concentration 
of  our  thoughts  and  our  tenderness  of  feeling  upon  those 
nnconquerable  spirits  wlio  put  to  the  touch-stone  their  pro- 
fessions, and  lost  their  lives  for  their  principles.  It  is  a 
pleasure  to  see  amongst  us  and  to  welcome  a  meritorious 
representation  of  the  survivors  of  those  of  our  Countymen 
who  served  their  County  in  the  field  and  also  of  other  sec- 
tions. Old  Soldier  Friends!  you  are  crowned  with  the 
laurels  of  many  a  blood-stained  field !  You  exalt  this  event 
by  your  presence :  for  you  wear  h.onors  won  at  the  ^lalvern 
Hills,  Sharpsburg,  Chancellorsville.  Gettysburg  and  Spottsyl- 
vania.  And  though  Appomattox  was  the  end  of  your  youth- 
ful dreams,  was  the  tomb  of  the  social  aspirations  and  the 
sepulcher  of  the  political  hopes  of  the  Southern  people,  you 
walked  from  thence  with  a  consciousness  of  duty  well  per- 
formed and  amidst  the  plaudit?  of  your  enemies.  You  had 
filled  the  whole  earth  with  your  fame.  Throughout  the  long 
years  since,  you  have  been  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  your 
countrymen.  AYe  wish  you  to-day  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
fellowship  of  old  soldiers  while  you  are  receiving  in  full 
measure  the  gratitude  of  your  people.  But  the  meeting  to-day 
cannot  bring  to  you  unalloyed  joy.  The  memories  of  the  past 
mix  with  the  realities  of  the  present,  and  contending  feelings 
rush  upon  you ;  the  pictures  of  the  dead  and  the  faces  of  the 
living  stand  before  you  and  you  cannot  reconcile  the  changes 


time  has  wrought.  However,  rejoice  in  the  reunion.  It  will 
not  be  long  before  you  shall  have  given  and  taken  your  last 
welcome ;  when  you  shall  have  clasped,  for  the  last  time,  each 
others  hands  so  often  extended  in  sympathy  in  adversity, 
and  in  pride  in  victory.  Year  by  year  the  older  ones  of 
you  follow  the  beckon  of  the  Pallid  Messenger  with  the 
inverted  torch,  and  within  the  not  distant  future  the  youngest 
of  you,  who  as  beardless  boys,  by  turns  fought  great  battles 
and  sang  with  soft  and  plaintive  voice  around  the  camp  fires 
their  favorite  songs,  "The  Years  Creep  Slowly  by  Lorena," 
or  "Her  Bright  Smiles  Haunt  Me  Still,"  will  be  the  rear- 
guard of  those  armies  of  tattered  unifoiins  and  bright  muskets 
which  furled  their  banners  nearly  forty  years  ago. 

The  womankind  of  the  good  old  County  must  also  be 
mentioned  here.  By  their  efforts  this  monument  has  been 
erected.  They  have  always  been  patriotic,  courageous  and 
intellectual ;  and  from  that  source  arose  the  intense  war 
spirit  which  characterized  the  men  of  Warren  throughout  the 
war;  and  to  that  spirit  may  be  attributed  the  unanimity  of 
sentim.ent  and  the  universality  of  enlistment  in  the  Con- 
federate army.  They  sent  their  sons  to  the  field  to  conquer 
or  to  return  upon  their  shields.  And  no  influence  but  theirs 
could  have  held  up  the  heads  of  the  men  through  the  subse- 
quent years  of  poverty,  of  political  oppression  and  despond- 
ency ensuing  upon  the  close  of  hostilities.  Many  of  their 
dear  faces,  whose  trials  and  sufferings  at  home  were  as 
heroic  as  were  the  feats  of  valor  of  their  kinsmen  in  the  field, 
are  missed  to-day.  These  were  they  who  bewept  their  hus- 
bands and  sons,  their  brothers  and  lovers  still  sleeping  where 
they  fell,  or  carried  dead  from  wounds  across  their  thresholds 
and  laid  to  sleep  in  their  bloody  shrouds  until  the  trumpet 
shall  sound.  These  were  they  who  wanted  back  their  dead, 
who  never  grew  tired  of  lamenting  them,  and  who  cried 
from  the  depths  of  their  hearts,  "But  oh  for  the  touch  of  a 
vanished  hand,  and  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still."    These 


8 


souls,  made  strong  through  suffering  and  patient  through 
affliction,  have  rejoined  their  loved  ones  in  the  Paradise  of 
God. 

The  lineage  from  which  these  men  sprung  was  proud  and 
honorable.  Tlie  very  soil  on  which  thev  were  reared,  named 
in  honor  of  the  Boston  physician  and  patriot  who  fell  at 
Bunker  Hill,  seemed  favorable  to  the  growth  of  a  noble  self- 
esteem,  of  patriotism,  and  above  all  the  spirit  of  liberty — 
which  is  at  bottom  the  love  of  home  and  family.  As  when 
in  Bute  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution  the  Committees  of 
safety  were  formed,  one  of  each  kin  was  selected  to  act  as 
one  of  the  Committee,  so  in  that  part  of  the  same  territory 
called  AVarren  after  1TT!»,  in  the  war  of  1S61-1S65  there  was 
the  same  united  determination  to  act  together  as  one  family. 
As  there  were  no  Tories  in  Bute,  so  there  were  no  Unionists 
in  AVarren  after  the  Secession  ordinance  of  the  Convention. 

The  wliole  body  of  the  county  had  been  affected  through 
the  influence  of  the  excellence  of  character,  the  intellect  and 
the  wealth  of  the  large  number  of  educated  and  refined  fami- 
lies wlio  had  lived  within  its  borders  from  its  almost  earliest 
settlement.  A  bad  man  was  found  out  and  was  ostracised. 
A  cowardly  act,  or  a  dishonest  transaction  meant  social  ruin 
to  its  perpetrator.  The  treatment  of  the  slave  population, 
double  that  of  the  white,  was  considerate  and  kind.  That 
institution  never  existed  in  any  country  or  in  any  age  at- 
tended with  so  little  of  harshness  or  hardship  as  with  this 
people;  and  they  repaid  their  owners  during  the  war  in 
cheerful  labor  and  the  protection  of  the  homes  of  those  of 
them  who  were  in  the  army.  The  town  of  Warrenton  was 
noted  for  its  institutions  of  learning.  The  College  and  the 
Institute,  both  for  young  ladies  and  girls,  sent  out  yearly 
numbers  of  graduates  to  adorn  our  society.  There  were  two 
Academies  for  young  men  and  boys  with  extensive  patronage. 
Each  of  the  Protestant  Churches  owned  its  place  of  worship. 

It  will  be  well,  too,  to  mention  that  the  material  side  of 


life  was  not  neglected  among  us.  There  were  stables  of 
thoroughbred  horses  trained  for  the  turf;  and  ujK)n  the  race 
course  near  Warrenton,  favorites  of  national  reputation  were 
often  entered.  All  manly  sports  were  encouraged  and,  gene- 
rally, the  men  and  boys  were  experts  with  horse  and  gun. 
Two  fashionable  summer  resorts  drawing  together  each  season 
hundreds  of  the  most  influential  and  polished  people  in  the 
State  added  pleasure  and  profit  to  the  community.  When 
the  war  broke  out  there  was  general  prosperity,  and  as  a 
consequence  contentment,  founded  on  intelligence  and  moral 
worth.  Why  then  did  these  men  who  loved  peace  and  the 
institutions  of  their  country,  so  fortunately  situated,  so 
contented,  suddenly  exchange  peaceable  employments  for  the 
toils  and  dangers  of  war  ?  Why  did  these  prosperous  agri- 
culturists, business  and  professional  men  leave  their  homes 
and  families  and  march  to  the  battlefield  ?  Who  of  us  doubts 
that  they  were  impelled  by  a  high  sense  of  duty  ?  They  did 
not  go  out  for  conquest.  They  were  not  mercenaries.  They 
were  not  traitors.     They  were  patriots. 

Whatever  opinions  may  exist  as  to  the  motives  of  the  chief 
political  actors  in  the  South  in  connection  with  the  com- 
mencement of  the  war,  of  one  thing  we  may  be  assured,  and 
that  is,  that  the  impartial  judgment  of  mankind,  founded  on 
a  careful  examination  of  the  Constitution  and  its  history, 
sustains  the  claim  of  the  Southern  States  that  their  attempted 
withdrawal  from  the  Union  was  of  legal  right. 

The  argmments  on  that  matter  would  be  out  of  place  here, 
but  the  conclusions  based  on  them  by  men  disinterested  and 
eminent  in  statesmanship  and  letters,  other  than  those  of  the 
South,  will  be  appropriate  tn  the  occasion.  De  Tocqueville, 
as  the  representative  of  foreign  opinion,  in  his  celebrated 
work  on  Democracy  in  America,  says:  ''However  strong  a 
government  may  be,  it  cannot  easily  escape  from  the  conse- 
quences of  a  Principle  which  it  has  once  admitted  as  the 
foundation  of  its  Constitution. 


10 


"The  Union  Vv-as  furnied  by  the  vohmtarv  agreement  of  the 
States;  and  in  imitiug  together  thev  have  not  forfeited  their 
nationality,  nor  have  they  been  reduced  to  the  conditions  of 
one  and  the  same  people.  If  one  of  the  states  should  choose 
to  withdraw  from  the  compact,  it  would  be  difficult  to  dis- 
prove its  right  of  doing  so,  and  the  Federal  Government 
would  have  no  moans  of  maintaining  its  claims  directly, 
either  by  force  or  right." 

Senator  Lodge,  of  lAIassachiisetts,  a  statesman,  a  schohar 
and  a  patriot,  in  his  life  of  Daniel  Webster,  in  commenting 
on  Mr.  Webster's  reply  to  jMr.  Hayne  on  the  Foote  Resolu- 
tions, sa^'s:  "The  weak  idaces  in  his  armor  were  historical 
in  ^heir  nature.  It  v;as  probably  necessary,  at  all  events  Mr. 
Webster  felt  it  to  be  so,  to  argue  that  the  Constitution  at  the 
outset  was  not  a  compact  between  the  States,  but  a  national 
iuerrunient,  and  to  distinguish  the  cases  of  Virginia  and 
Ki  utucky  in  1700,  and  of  Xew  England  in  1S14  from  that 
of  South  Carolina  in  1830.  The  former  part  he  touched 
ui^on  lightly ;  the  latter  he  discussed  ably,  eloquently,  in- 
geniously and  at  length. 

■Unfortunately  the  facts  were  against  him  in  both  in- 
stances. When  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  the  votes  of 
tlie  States  at  Philadelphia,  and  accc]itod  by  the  votes  of  the 
St  ;te3  in  popular  convention,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  there  was 
not  a  man  in  the  country,  from  Washington  and  Hamilton  on 
one  side,  to  George  Clinton  and  George  Mason  on  the  other, 
who  regarded  the  new  system  as  anything  but  an  experiment 
entered  upon  by  the  States,  and  from  w^hich  each  and  every 
State  had  the  right  peacably  to  withdraw — a  right  which  was 
very  likely  to  be  exercised. 

"What  is  true  of  ITOO  is  true  of  the  Xew  England  leaders 
or  Washington  wdien  they  discussed  the  feasibility  of  se- 
cession in  1804,  of  the  declaration  in  favor  of  secession 
made  by  Josiah  Quincy  in  Congress  a  few  years  later;  of 
the   resistance   of  Tvew   England    during   the  war   of    1812, 


11 


and  the  riglit  of  "interposition'  set  forth  by  the  Harvard 
Convention.  In  all  these  instances  no  one  troubled  himself 
about  the  constitutional  aspect;  it  was  a  question  of  ex- 
pediency of  moral  and  political  right  or  wrong.  In  every 
case  the  right  was  simply  stated,  and  the  uniform  answer 
was,  'Such  a  step  means  the  overthrow  of  the  present  sys- 
tem.' " 

From  these  quotations  it  is  made  clear  that  at  the  time  the 
Constitution  was  framed  the  legal  right  of  a  State  to  with- 
draw from  the  Union,  at  discretion,  was  generally  admitted 
and   understood. 

The  people  of  the  seceding  States,  then,  are  acquitted  of 

any  crime  against  the  supreme  law  of  the   land    

paramount  authoi'ity  having  been  in  the  State  and  ultimate 

allegiance  of  its  citizens  due  to  the  State and  the 

policy  or  impolicy  of  their  course  was  a  matter  for  their  dis- 
cretion alone.  In  the  forum  of  conscience  they  were  bound 
by  no  rule  except  that  which  governs  the  intercourse  between 
sovereign  nations.  Capricious  action  could  not  be  defended. 
Well  founded  complaint  was  justification. 

The  last  word  of  the  defense  of  the  South  has  been  spoken. 
We  will  have  to  abide  the  verdict  of  impartial  history  upon 
the  moral  right  of  our  action.  Of  the  honesty  of  our  people 
upon  the  question  of  due  provocation  there  can  be  little 
doubt.  Can  any  dispassionate  and  well  informed  person 
doubt  the  sincerity  of  the  people  of  Xorth  Carolina  in  the 
ordaining  of  the  ordinance  of  secession?  Without  going 
into  particulars,  which  would  involve  the  recital  of  the  crim- 
inations and  recriminations  of  those  days,  in  the  name  of 
our  dead  we  point  as  evidence  of  their  good  faith  to  the 
known  hazard  of  the  undertalcing,  the  unexampled  suffering 
and  sacrifices  they  endured,  and  the  tenacity  with  which  they 
clung  to  their  beliefs.  We  would  to-day,  for  them,  and  each 
of  them,  speak  the  words  of  their  great  leader  when  he  was 
advised  by  his  lieutenants  that  in  their  opinion  the  time  had 


12 


conic  fcir  him  to  surrender  his  army:  ''We  had  I  was  satis- 
fied, sacred  principles  to  maintain,  and  rig'hts  to  defend  for 
which  we  were  in  duty  bound  to  do  our  best  even  if  we 
perished  in  th(^  endeavor.'' 

Alhision  to  the  right  of  secession,  the  deadest  of  all  dead 
issues,  has  been  made  here  only,  of  course,  with  reference 
to  the  past,  and  to  meet  the  charge  of  treason  against  those 
who  ])artici])atrd  with  Xorth  ('amlina  in  the  great  conflict. 

Xever  were  more  hazardous  resolves  made  than  when  the 
people  of  our  State  d<  termined  to  leave  the  Union ;  and 
never  were  resolves  more  desperately  defended  than  in  the 
years  of  war  which  followed.  Linking  their  destiny  with 
that  of  the  people  of  the  South,  they  entered  the  contest 
totally  unprepared.  There  was  a  lack  of  everything  neces- 
sary to  conduct  the  war  except  the  courage  of  our  people. 
There  were  no  arms,  no  ammunition,  no  medical  supplies,  and 
no  material  out  of  which  to  make  them;  and  no  manufac- 
tories if  we  had  had  the  material.  There  was  a  want  of 
quinine  to  cure  agiie,  of  surgical  instruments  and  chloroform 
A\dth  Avhich  to  remove  the  shattered  limbs  of  the  woimded 
soldiers.  ]\lajor  Gorgan,  in  his  article  on  the  organization 
of  our  troo])s,  states  that  on  the  day  after  the  first  battle 
of  Manassas  Governor  Clark  received  a  telegram  from  the 
War  Department  informing  him  that  there  was  not  powder 
enough  in  the  C^^nfederacy  for  another  day's  fight,  and  re- 
questing him  to  put  nitre  agents  in  the  field. 

Among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  of  North  Carolinians 
to  buckle  on  their  armor  were  the  volunteers  from  our  noble 
old  county.  It  may  be  entertaining  if  for  a  few  moments 
I  try  to  sketch  some  scenes  of  those  days,  using  the  imagi- 
nation and  to  a  great  degree  the  language  of  another — Cable 
in  his  Doctor  Sevier. 

x\ll  the  States  of  the  South  of  us  had  seceded,  and  Fort 
Sumter  had  been  fired  on  and  taken.  All  the  people — men, 
boys,  women  and  girls — were  wild  with  excitement  and  clam- 


Hun.  WALTKK  a.  MONTGOMERY. 


13 


orous  for  secession  and  war.  Speccli-making  was  going  on 
everywhere,  flags  and  flag-poles  were  raised  at  every  town  and 
cross-road.  War  songs,  Dixie  and  the  Bonnie  Blue  Flag! 
it  wasn't  bonny  very  long — shot  and  shell,  powder  and  dust 
and  smoke  and  battle  had  marred  its  beauty — were  sung  on 
the  streets,  in  the  court-houses  and  in  the  homes.  The  flag 
of  the  South  in  bars  of  red,  white  and  blue  were  everywhere 
to  be  seen,  the  women  and  children  as  well  as  the  men  and 
boys  wearing  them  on  the  lapels  of  dresses  and  coats.  Then 
came  the  sound  of  drums:  Fall  in!  Fall  in!  once  on  such  a 
day,  then  the  next  night,  then  twice  the  day  after  until  it 
was  every  day  and  every  night.  High-stepping  children 
with  sticks  and  broom  handles  for  guns  fell  in  line  and 
played  soldier  like  the  Guards  and  Eifles.  Ah !  the  drums, 
the  bugles,  the  fifes,  the  captains  and  lieutenants  with  their 
epauletts  and  plumes  and  shining  swords  calling.  Left !  Left ! 
Guide  Eight !  Forw^ard,  March  !  What  pomp,  what  penons, 
what  flags,  artillery  salvos,  ladies'  favors,  balls,  concerts, 
making  uniforms  and  covering  canteens ;  and  a  supper  to 
this  Company  and  a  fla^  to  that  one ;  addresses  by  such  and 
such  an  one ;  farewell  sermons,  and  last  family  dinings !  It 
has  been  more  than  forty  years  ago,  but  don't  you  see  and 
hear  then  now  ?  The  old  Guards  coming  down  the  moonlit 
streets  from  the  old  Academy  grove,  where  they  had  been 
drilling,  in  quick  and  regular  step,  with  glittering  swords, 
and  bayonets  soon  to  be  red  with  brothers  blood,  passing 
the  church  and  the  old  hotel  an^  filing  into  the  court  house 
square  to  go  through  their  prettiest  evolutions  in  the  pres- 
ence of  beautiful  maidens  who  had  gathered  there  to  witness 
it,  their  brave  young  hearts  lifted  up  with  the  triumphs  of 
battles  to  come !  By  and  by  on  lightning  wings  the  Captain 
received  an  order: 

Adjutant-General's  Office, 

Raleigh,  N.  C,  April  17th,  1861. 
Captain  Warren  Volunteers: 

You   are   commanded   to   proceed   with   your   Company   forthwith   to 

Fort  Macon,  Beaufort  Harbor,  and  on  your  arrival  at  that  point  report 


14 


your  arrival  to  Col.  Tew.  Transportation  will  be  provided  at  the  rail- 
road station  for  the  men.  Telegraph  to  Weldon  on  receipt  of  this 
when  the  Company  will  be  ready  but  do  not  delay. 

By  order  of  Commander-in-Chief: 

J.  F.  Hoke, 

Adjutant-(Jcneral. 

A  meeting  of  citizens  is  called,  and  held  on  the  next  night, 
Thursday,  l.'^th.  Great  war  speeches  were  made  and  four 
thousand  dollars  raised  in  cash  for  the  vohmteers.  On 
Saturday  morning  a  little  after  service,  a  beautifully  sol- 
emn service  is  held  in  Emmanuel  Church,  conducted  by 
Dr.  Hodges,  that  sweet  descendant  of  the  good  Bishop  Bien- 
venu.  Mid  tears  and  kis-es  the  Guards  and  Eilles  wend  their 
Avay  silently  from  the  church  and  form  their  lines  in  the 
street  in  front.  How  many  they  seemed  to  be !  How  many ! 
many !  Presently  the  order  of  attention  is  passed  down  the 
lines  in  subdued  tones;  then  another  order  follows,  high- 
keyed  and  l(»ng  drawn  out,  and  with  one  sharp  "clack''  the 
sword-bayouettcd  rifles  fly  to  the  shoulders  of  as  fine  a 
C(«npany  as  is  to  be  seen  in  the  land  of  Dixie !  The  drums 
be'it;  tram]-),  tram]T,  in  quick  succession  go  the  nimble  feet 
of  the  brave  young  soldiers,  and  the  old  church  bell  rings  out 
its  blessings  upon  the  devoted  heads.  Farewell,  soldier  boys! 
Light  hearted,  little  forecasting,  brave,  merry  boys!  God 
accept  you  our  first  fruits.  See  that  mother — that  wife — 
that  sweetheart — take  them  away;  it  is  too  much.  Com- 
fort them  Father ;  tell  them  their  tears  may  be  for  nought. 

"And  yet,  and  yet  we  cannot  forget 
That  many  brave  boys  must  fall." 

Farewell,  precious  youths !  You  shall  thirst  by  day  and 
hunger  by  night.  You  shall  keep  vigil  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac  and  Pappahannock.  You  shall  grow  brown,  but 
handsomer.  You  shall  shiver  in  loathsome  tatters  and  yet 
keep  your  grace,  your  courtesy  and  your  joyousness.  You 
shall  ditch  and  lie  do-^^m  in  ditches,  and  shall  sing  your 
saucy  songs  of  defiance  in  the  face  of  the  foe,  so  blackened 
with    powder,    and    dust    and    smoke    that   your   mothers    in 


15 

heaven  would  not  know  their  children.  And  shall  learn  war 
songs  and  sing  them  by  the  camp  fires.  And  for  many 
of  von  there  shall  be  blood  on  your  breasts,  and  on  your 
brow,  and  with  cheers  on  your  lips,  dovm,  down,  you  shall 
go  to  the  death  of  your  dearest  choice. 

'No  more  heroic  spirits  ever  marched  to  battle  than  those 
proud  men  of  Warren;  and  death  never  reaped,  on  any  of 
his  most  crimson  fields,  richer  harvests  than  he  garnished  of 
her  precious  sons.  Some  were  mere  lads  who,  but  a  few 
months  before,  were  so  timid  that  they  would  have  screamed 
at  a  scratch,  met  the  King  of  Terrors  with  a  smile;  some 
were  young  and  others  middle  aged,  and  they  with  duty  as 
their  guide  went  to  their  deaths  with  the  alacrity  of  the 
bridegroom  to  the  altar;  and  some  were  old  men,  who  like 
ripe  corn  ready  to  be  gathered,  bowed  their  heads  and  fell 
into  the  arms  of  the  great  reaper.  No  less  deserving  of 
gratitude  and  honor  are  the  memories  of  those  who  in  the 
lonely  watches  of  the  sick  room  yielded  up  their  lives  for 
their  country.  God  have  their  souls  in  His  keeping  and  to 
Him  be  ascribed  praise  forever  for  the  gift  of  such  men  to 
the  earth.  They  may  be  with  us  to-day.  There  may  be  no 
veil  between  us  and  them,  only  our  mortal  eyes  may  not  see 
all  that  is  around  us. 

In  the  main  the  troops  from  Warren  County  were  mobil- 
ized into  nine  companies:  A  the  Guards,  G  the  Kifles,  and 
K  of  the  Second  Eegiment  of  volunteers,  afterwards  F,  C 
and  K  of  the  Twelfth  State  troops ;  D  and  F  of  the  Eighth 
Eegiment;  E  of  the  Mnth  Regiment  (First  Cavalry);  B 
of  the  Thirtieth  Regiment;  Company  G  of  the  Forty-third 
Regiment,  and  C  of  the  Forty-sixth  Regiment. 

They  all  served  in  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia;  the 
companies  of  the  Twelfth  Regiment  and  Company  E  of  the 
First  Cavalry  throughout  the  war ;  the  company  of  the  Thir- 
tieth and  that  of  the  Forty-sixth  from  early  in  1862 ;  the 
company  of  the  Forty-third  from  and  including  Gettysburg, 
and  the  companies  of  the  Eighth  at  the  battle  of  Cold  Har- 


16 


bor,  -Time  3d,  1864.  The  Eighth  did  service  in  iSTorth  and 
South  Carolina  and  at  Drnry's  Bluff  nnder  Beauregard  in 
Ma  J,  1864.  A  number  of  boys  between  seventeen  and  eigh- 
teen were  in  the  service  of  the  State  in  the  Seventieth  Begi- 
ment  (First  Junior  Beserves). 

ITow  many  they  all  numbered  can  never  be  accurately 
computed.  In  February,  1862,  a  muster  and  militia  roll  of 
Warren  was  made,  and  it  was  then  ascertained  that  including 
those  already  in  service  there  were  1017  men  between  eigh- 
teen and  fifty  years  of  age  in  the  County;  186  were  in  the 
field;  150  more  who  had  volunteered  and  were  ready  to  go; 
95  who  were  exempt,  leaving  286  efficient  for  military  duty. 
In  the  three  and  more  years  of  war  which  followed,  the 
military  age  having  been  reduced  in  1864,  February,  to 
sixteen  years  and  extended  to  fifty,  a  reasonable  calculation 
would  probably  increase  by  two  hundred  the  number  enumer- 
ated in  February,  1862.  The  white  population  at  that  time 
was  5000.  There  were  about  900  men  between  eighteen  and 
forty-five.  We  sent  to  the  field  prcbably  1200  soldiers.  The 
nundier  of  deaths  were  probably  300 — one-half  from  sickness 
and  the  remainder  killed  in  battle. 

These  soldiers  were  in  the  front  ranks  of  those  who  made 
imperishable  the  fame  of  the  army  of  ^NTorthern  Virginia; 
that  army  that  during  its  four  years  of  existence  was  never 
broken  in  battle,  though  out  of  them  all  it  went  its  w^ay 
dri]^])ing  with  blood;  that  army  that  had  always  been  chival- 
ric  in  its  treatment  of  prisoners ;  that  was  always  scrupulous 
in  its  respect  for  womankind  and  most  careful  of  the  rights 
of  private  property ;  that  for  tliree  years  by  the  flash  from 
its  musketry  was  a  sheet  of  flame  encircling  the  borders  of 
the  Confederacy  and  consuming  like  stubble  fresh  armies  and 
fresh  generals  of  its  enemy  and  twice  bursting  the  boundaries 
of  its  territory  leaped  into  the  heart  of  its  enemy's  country; 
that  made  immortal  almost  every  hill  and  dale  of  the  Old 
Dominion  and  electrified  the  civilized  world  with  its  deeds 
of  valor. 


17 

These  men  followed  the  fortunes  of  that  army  as  its  col- 
umns moved  around  the  capital  of  the  Confederacy  in  the 
Seven  Days  battles,  thence  to  Boonsborough  and  Sharpsburg, 
thence  to  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville,  and  Gettysburg 
and  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania,  and  thence  to  Second 
Cold  Harbor  where  their  courage  and  their  markmanship 
brought  their  foe  to  a  standstill,  and  thence  to  the  trenches 
around  Petersburg  and  the  dreadful  Eight-months'  Siege, 
and  thence  to  Appomattox.  The  blood  of  those  who  went 
out  not  to  return  mingled  freely  with  that  of  some  of  the  sur- 
vivors who  are  with  us  to-day,  enriches  every  battle  field  of 
Virginia.  On  one  of  them,  the  Malvern  Hills,  the  spot  of  all 
the  earth  where  hiunan  courage  was  most  supremely  tested, 
the  Warren  County  dead  lay  with  the  nearest  Confederate 
trcops  to  the  Union  lines  which  had  repulsed  them;  and  at 
Spottsylvania  they  fell  thick  around  the  base  of  the  historic 
horseshoe. 

They  did  not  die  in  vain.  It  was  not  written  in  the  book 
of  fate  that  the  Southern  States  should  be  an  independent 
nation.  That  did  not  harmonize  with  the  law  and  thought 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  But  as  long  as  courage  shall  be 
admired  on  the  earth,  as  long  as  the  soul  is  capable  of  appre- 
ciating the  qualities  of  patience  and  faithfulness  to  duty,  as 
long  as  suffering  for  conscience'  sake  is  applauded  among 
men,  so  long  shall  the  deeds  and  memories  of  these  men  en- 
dure and  be  cherished. 


WARREN  CONFEDERATE  DEAD 


The  following  poem  vv'as  written  and  delivered  by  Mr.  Tasker  Polk,  of 
Warrenton,  X.  C,  on  the  occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the  Confederate 
monument  at  that  place  on  the  27th  inst : 

Backward,  backward,  rearward  rolling, 
Sweep  our  iiiemorv's  riisbiria'  waves, 

While  the  bells  of  war  are  tolling 

Sounds  of  battles  past  in  story. 

Battle-sounds  of  deathless  glory. 

While  the  tear-drops  of  our  sadness 

Mingle  with  our  sounds  of  gladness, 

Let  us  meet  in  grand  re-union. 

Let  us  join  in  sweet  communion 

With  Warren's  host  of  spirit  braves. 

Where  our  gallant  dead  are  sleeping 

Beneath  the  crimson-crested  sea, 
There  our  memory  sad  is  steeping 
x\ll  its  thoughts  in  glory  keeping. 
And  tlie  hallowed  past  is  creeping 
I^earer  to  the  present  heaping 
Sacred  thoughts  o'er  comrades  sleeping, 
Sleeping  there  in  silent  glory, 
While  the  night  winds  sigh  their  story 
To  the  distant,  shadowy  lea. 

In  each  heart  should  be  a  longing 

To  honor  do  and  homage  pay 
To  those  heroes  who  went  thronging. 
Leaving  all  to  them  belonging, 
Rushino;  oroudlv  to  the  battle, 


Hon.  TASKER  polk. 


19 


IsTot  like  (hnnl)  and  driven  cattle, 
But  like  men  who  heard  the  rattle 
Of  the  inufiket  hrave  and  fearless, 
True  and  grand  and  proud  and  peerless 
Were  Warren's  sons  who  wore  the  gray. 

Then  draw^  from  Recollection's  sheath 

The  stainless  sword  of  Warren's  pride ! 
O'er  hill  and  valley,  plain  and  heath, 
Far  flash  its  circling  light  and  wide, 
Upward  flashing,  glancing,  gleaming. 
Let  its  light  be  onward  streaming 
To  the  graves  where  now  lie  dreaming 
Those  who  fought  for  us  and  died. 

When  war's  black  cloud  hung  darkly  o'er 

Our  Sunny  South,  our  native  land. 
And  w^hen  the  cannon's  deadly  roar 
Its  thunders  rolled  from  shore  to  shore. 
Did  Warren's  Soldiers  trembling  stand  ? 

When  North  and  South  divided  stood 

On.  the  banks  of  War's  red  river, 
And  Mars  sprang  reeking  from  the  flood, 
And  hurled  his  lightning  spear  of  blood. 
Did  our  soldiers  quake  or  shiver  ? 

When  battle  from  war's  forge  of  hell 
Cast  wide  and  far  the  screaming  shell 
That  bore  death's  message  and  its  knell 
O'er  bleeding  valley,  plain  and  dell, 
Did  Warren's  brave  soldiers  falter  ? 
I^o !  but  at  their  Country's  altar 
Bowed  and  breathed  their  battle  psalter, 
Then  proudly  rose,  unsheathed  their  swords, 
And  shouted  wild  the  ringing  words, 
''Our  Country!" 


20 


Then  riislied  "mi(l  sabres'  elaiig  and  clash, 
And  fought  "mid  battle's  crnsli  and  crash, 
Fell  in  the  nmskets'  blinding  flash, 
Poured  their  heart's  blood  -axt  like  water 
Freely  on  the  field  of  slungliter. 
Asked  no  mercy,  begged  n(t  quarter, 
But  fouglit  and  fell,  tin  ir  late-t  breath, 
Defiance  in  the  face  «»f  (k^ath — 
For  Dixie  I 

Xorth  and  Sdutl;  again  united 

Xo  longer  la-ir  the  clash  of  swords, 
Union  vows  apain  are  pli'jlited. 

But  hark  t^  memory's  ])leading  words; 
Oh,  my  country.  Oh,  my  nation! 

Forget  not  thy  illustri'ins  braves, 
Let  monuments  of  consecration 

Stand  sentiuid  o'er  our  soldiers'  graves ! 
ISTot  for  fame  they  fought  and  fell. 

But  fought  for  honor  and  country's  weal. 
Hearken  then  to  memory's  bell. 

Whose  echoes  are  heard  in  the  land  of  the  leal. 


^, 


